Scheel Mann Vario XL seats in the Equipt 200 Series Land Cruiser

dstefan

dstefan

Well-known member
Equipt said:
Thanks for the suggestion!!!!! I just ordered one of these. 3” rigid black. Much easier than the options I was thinking of. Thank you!!!!
Click to expand...
I assume this worked for you since it seems to have for @csphoto? I always thought the problem was that with the seat weight sensor missing and absent the aftermarket resistor (which has been unavailable for quite awhile) to fool the airbag system there was an error code that caused problems and the dash airbag was disabled, not just that no airbag light was on.

I reluctantly let go of a beloved Tacoma I didnt want to for similar reasons (6’3” and bad back). My new Tundra seats solved the probem, but my wife‘s 2018 4runner is just as bad as the Taco and we’d like to build out and travel in it sometimes too. I’d put in a set of Scheel-Manns in a NY minute if I knew this worked.

If an extender solves the problem, wouldn’t just clipping the seat belt in do it too? And is it just turning off the idiot light? Other than crashing the rig how do we know the air bag works this way, since the weight sensor is there to inhibit the airbag when there’s a lightweight little kid in the seat? Doesn’t seem like clipping the seat belt/extender in the absence of a signal from the weight sensor would override the airbag child safety circuit and enable the airbags. Doesn’t no weight sensor signal equal empty seat/little kid regardless of the seat belt connected sensor status?

I'm not trying to be a PITA, I’m just hoping you or somebody here understands whats going on with this method better than I do, cause I find this kinda counterintuitive and I’d really like to get the seats if I was sure the passenger would still have airbag protection with this method.
 
Equipt

Equipt

Supporting Sponsor Presenting Sponsor of Overland
I received the clip in extension, put it in, and didn't see a change in things. I think you are right, at least in my thought pattern, that the weight sensor is still in play here. My understanding of the goal of that sensor is to tell the airbag system whether there is or is not someone in that seat. That tells the system whether or not to allow the deployment of the airbag. It is there for economic reasons, I believe. So in an accident, if no one is in the passenger seat, don't deploy the passenger airbag. Something I will need to check is if you can manually turn off the airbag to the passenger seat, I believe with your key (child seat safety override or whatever), then clip in the extension, will that get rid of the light? I have other issues to fix still. I need to sort out the second row airbag bypass, since I took that row out too. So I will have a light in the dash regardless, until I get it all sorted out. Sorry I am not more help here.

Cheers,
 
dstefan

dstefan

Well-known member
Thanks Paul for your feedback on your experience and your thinking on it. I was afraid of that. Metal Tech, who sells Scheel Manns and Planted seat brackets used to sell an occupancy sensor bypass module. They had it listed a few years ago when I wanted to replace my Tacoma’s seats, but was always unavailable.

I just searched around using the term: “Toyota occupancy sensor bypass“ and found this along with a number of other bypasses and some DIY approaches. I think Metal Tech gave up on these, but found this old set of instructions thats kinda explanatory. I think the issue is not just the light, but that the airbag is turned off due to child safety concerns?

also this: https://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/safety-regulatory-devices/ocs1.htm

Maybe being in the business yourself, Metal Tech might share what they know with you?
 
R

rlynch356

Defyota
Paul .... Looking at the FSM.. there is a test procedure for the occupant sensor, basically 2 jumpers in the plug to the seat sensor. In theory if you leave this connected you should bypass the sensor and have it always register an occupant, which would enable the air bags. But you are going to need Techstream to clear the codes already present from the open conditions it has now. Potentially using a resistor to get the range correct you could have it think the seat is un-occupied (but that defeats the air bag too...) which is what happens with the rear seat resistor trick or a switch could toggle between the 2 conditions...

The seat belt warning chime is selectable in tech stream.. (I have mine off..) but that does not disable the seat belt detection signal.. so you will need to have the seat belt extender plugged in, as they have to "agree" ...seat occupied + seat belt = no codes and vice versa..

I won't post it here B/C it is SRS related .... but it looks like something that is relatively straightforward to test, once you Clear the codes (nothing will change until that is done fyi...)
 
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clayinho

Member
How have folks been wiring in the seatbelt for the driver? I believe that it is just two wires, but I'm wondering how people bridged the wiring that comes on the buckle receptacle side to the wiring coming out of the bottom of the carpet since there is an intermediate wiring piece that stays with the seat.

I had Planted lower their 200 Series LC mount an additional 2 inches to accommodate my 6'9" height. I can confirm that their LC200 bracket fits at least on the driver side of the LX570.

I had to add a lower hole on the seatbelt mount for it to clear while sliding forward and backward. Besides that, I'm pretty excited to not have my head rubbing on the ceiling and looking forward to solving the airbag indicator issue (at least for the driver).

PXL_20220529_215607075.jpg
PXL_20220529_215925700.jpg
 
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JackW

JackW

Explorer
Scheel Mann seats were standard equipment in the legendary 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS. Sitting in one of those on the showroom floor was my introduction to the brand and they are far superior to the Recaros of that era. A friend has one installed in the driver's position of his Land Rover 110 and it makes me jealous every time I see it. The ultimate seat for fifty years.
 
trailscape

trailscape

Explorer
I'd been thinking of putting these in my 06 Tundra for some time. Maybe you should put some in yours so I can know how that process goes..

It's great to hear some long term reviews as it was hard to decide just by sitting in them briefly. I wasn't really sure they were going to be that big an improvement over less costly options. I'm also looking at some options by PRP.

I have back and knee issues primarily. Any drive over several hours starts to become miserable. Bouncing down some off road trails is brutal.
 
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clayinho

Member
I received the dongles and I have no reason to believe that they don't work. However, at least on the LX570, there appears to be at least two other sensors that are triggering the airbag light (the seat position sensor and the inner seat belt receptacle). I can't see a workaround to dismiss all of that and I'm afraid my seat replacement adventure for the LX570 is over. Too many compromises from original/factory - all to accommodate my 6'9" frame in a vehicle I have no business fitting in.

I'll get the dongle off to someone who is only doing it for the second row and verify function.
 
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clayinho

Member
I've resolved all of the driver seat sensors/airbag light issues.

For the driver seat, you will get an airbag light on the dash for any and all of the three things:
  1. Inner seatbelt wiring not going through the harness that is integral to the factory seat (this harness actually splits the seat belt wiring to go to both the ECU/dash and central airbag ECU
  2. Front seat slide position sensor (used for seat memory but also reports to the central airbag ECU, perhaps for airbag deployment attenuation or delay depending on seat position)
  3. The seat side squib airbag (also reports to the central airbag ECU)
I've "defeated" all of these with the following measures (in order as presented above): new factory inner seat belt assembly plugged into a donor seat wiring harness, a donor seat slide position sensor plugged into the donor seat wiring harness, and a 2-ohm airbag resistor "dongle".

The passenger seat replacement has all of the same issues but is further complicated by the occupancy sensor but is out of scope for my efforts.
 
R

Rustyhinge

New member
Bump.

Waiting to see if anyone can come up with a clever solution, even if it isn't a product, rather an instruction guide on how to dismiss the hurdles of this.

I put Corbeau seats in my GX470 and was about to disassemble a donor passenger seat to remove the occupant sensor and place them into the Corbeau frames.

Ended up selling the GX and currently looking for a 200 series.
 
S

sprocket3

Adventurer
clayinho said:
I've resolved all of the driver seat sensors/airbag light issues.

For the driver seat, you will get an airbag light on the dash for any and all of the three things:
  1. Inner seatbelt wiring not going through the harness that is integral to the factory seat (this harness actually splits the seat belt wiring to go to both the ECU/dash and central airbag ECU
  2. Front seat slide position sensor (used for seat memory but also reports to the central airbag ECU, perhaps for airbag deployment attenuation or delay depending on seat position)
  3. The seat side squib airbag (also reports to the central airbag ECU)
I've "defeated" all of these with the following measures (in order as presented above): new factory inner seat belt assembly plugged into a donor seat wiring harness, a donor seat slide position sensor plugged into the donor seat wiring harness, and a 2-ohm airbag resistor "dongle".

The passenger seat replacement has all of the same issues but is further complicated by the occupancy sensor but is out of scope for my efforts.
Click to expand...

Hi.. Any updates on this?

I just started looking at LX570s and they just don't have enough headroom at all. How does something so big end up so small inside?

Did you gain a lot of headroom by doing the planted/scheel-mann swap? I've got a set of Vario XL Seats sitting in my garage.
 
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